Audiences really don’t care about Michael Jackson’s alleged crimes as much as they care about enjoying his music. There are few better examples than Michael, the smash biopic that, despite radioactive reviews, returned to number one at the box office this weekend in its fourth week of release. Grossing $26 million, the movie knocked Devil Wears Prada 2 from the top spot, per Comscore. Prada, which enjoyed two weeks at number one, made $18 million this weekend, bringing its worldwide total to $546 million. However, Michael‘s slight 31 percent drop from last week indicates that word of mouth on the film remains strong, even if, like the movie, those telling their friends to see it are consciously leaving out the decades of allegations of child molestation in their conversations. It’s made more than $700 million worldwide.
Perhaps as something of a salve for the “Jesus, people really like venerating pedophiles” blues, the lone new release in the top five is an original horror movie: Obsession. Curry Barker’s Blumhouse creeper about a wish gone wrong made $16 million on 2,615 screens. The film beat out Mortal Kombat II, which crossed the worldwide $100 million mark this weekend and grossed $13.4 million domestically. Originally slated to open in October, when it could have run the table, Mortal Kombat has been no match for Michael or Prada. Neither has the family-friendly, well-reviewed Sheep Detectives, which, in its second week, earned $9.3 million.
All are doing better than the other major new release of the weekend, Guy Ritchie’s In The Grey, an action two-hander starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Henry Cavill. Opening at number nine with $3 million, In The Grey launched in the red, behind Super Mario Galaxy, Project Hail Mary, and the 40th anniversary re-release of Top Gun. Rounding out the top 10, Is God Is, directed by Aleshea Harris and based on her stage play, made $2.2 million over the weekend, a strong debut for a $14 million spaghetti western-inspired revenge movie about two sisters making their mother’s dying wish of killing their abusive father come true.
Here’s the top 10
- 1) Michael ($26 million)
- 2) The Devil Wears Prada ($18 million)
- 3) Obsession ($16 million)
- 4) Mortal Kombat II ($13.4 million)
- 5) The Sheep Detectives ($9.3 million)
- 6) The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($4.4 million)
- 7) Project Hail Mary ($3.8 million)
- 8) Top Gun Re-release ($3.1 million)
- 9) In The Grey ($3 million)
- 10) Is God Is ($2.2 million)
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